1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for classifying downstream packets in a Media Access Control (MAC) layer of a Cable Modem Termination System (CMTS) at a head-end of the Data over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) standard supporting a channel bonding mode.
The present invention has been produced from the work supported by the IT R&D program of MIC (Ministry of Information and Communication)/IITA (Institute for Information Technology Advancement) [2006-S-019-01, The Development of Digital Cable Transmission and Receive System for 1 Gbps Downstream] in Korea.
2. Discussion of Related Art
In order to transmit downstream data packets input to the CMTS at a head-end through a network interface in a cable network conforming to the DOCSIS standard to a specific cable modem, the packets must be transmitted to a channel through which the corresponding cable modem can receive. The downstream channel allowing the packets to be transmitted to the corresponding cable modem may be a single channel, or may be a plurality of channels when channel bonding is supported. The downstream packets are classified by their service flows depending on their Quality of Service (QoS) and then scheduled onto channels allowing them to be transmitted to the cable modem.
Accordingly, the CMTS must allocate service flows according to the QoS, define and manage classifiers capable of classifying the service flows, and schedule data packets input through downstream service flows onto transmission channels capable of rapidly and effectively delivering the packets to the cable modem in accordance with predefined classification rules.